Sego Canyon

In the spirit of finding cool places near Green River, we drove a couple miles down the road to check out Sego Canyon.  Sego is a dense hub of cultural history with three distinct rock art styles (Fremont, Ute, and Barrier) and a well-preserved ghost town.  It's really easy to find -- you only have to drive a couple miles off I-70 and you can see everything from a good dirt road.

This is some seriously cool rock art.  The canyon walls are coated with images created by people who lived thousands of years apart.  The alien-eyed Barrier Canyon anthropomorphs are up to 8,000 years old, while the historic Ute drawings date to the 1800s.  Somewhere in the middle, the triangular Fremont figures show off their snazzy necklaces.  It's amazing to see so much diversity in such a condensed area, and it really makes me wonder.  What about this place drew all these people here?  Sometimes it's really easy to image the lives of ancient people, but in some ways it's always going to be perplexing.  I guess that's what keeps it interesting!

Barrier Canyon rock art

Fremont rock art

After checking out the rock art, we drove a little further up the road to see the ghost town.  On the way, you'll see the little Boot Hill cemetery on the right.   The simple graves have some intriguing headstones, and it's fun to imagine the lives of the people who lived out here.  A little further down the road, you'll see Sego ghost town.  The company store and boarding house are still in great shape.  They were built in the early 1900s to support a coal mine, but the town ran into trouble when the water supply started to dry up.  In 1947 the mine was closed and the property sold at auction.

old company store

 

 
To get to Sego Canyon from Green River drive 25 miles east on I-70. Take exit 187 and drive north on the main road through the town of Thompson. Take a paved road 3.5 miles north of Thompson to reach the three rock art panels.  To find the Sego Ghost Town, drive 0.5 miles further up canyon on a good gravel road.  You'll reach a fork, where you turn right (east.)  The cemetery is immediately to the right.  Keep heading up the road 0.8 miles, and you'll see the ghost town.